Best free agent pickup for Texans? Wade Phillips

Defensive coordinator has moved Houston's defense from 30th to first in total defense

CORPUS CHRISTI - The question will be asked at season's end: Who was the best free agent pick-up this past off-season?

Answer: Wade Phillips.

In a matter of 3 ½ months, thanks to the NFL Lockout, Phillips has turned what was the worst pass defense in football, and 30th overall, into the NFL's top ranked defense through nine weeks. That's an arbitrary stat seeing as Houston's stacking up some wins over some lowly teams, but that just shows that they're doing what they're supposed to do. No close games with inferior opponents, no playing down to lesser division rivals. They take care of business and do it in a way that leaves no mistaking who the superior team was.

Case in point – Sunday's 30-12 conquest over the Cleveland Browns at Reliant Stadium. In comes Texas quarterback Colt McCoy and a scuffling Browns team playing without their first and second string running backs, a beleaguered defense and an overmatched offense, and the Texans wasted no time putting 14 points on the board, with a takeaway. At halftime, it was 24-3. It was 30-6 by the time Cleveland got their lone touchdown, which didn't come without its trouble for McCoy, who was twice hammered by LB Brooks Reed. Even Cleveland's meaningless score had to be earned.

Everything about the Texans this season seems to reek of toughness. From bloody images of Brian Cushing, to whiny sound bites from bitter Titans and Jaguars players accusing the Texans of playing dirty, it seems as though the Texans have fully shaken their previous label of being a soft, finesse team. Now, they feature two running backs who, through nine weeks, both are over 600 total yards on the ground. Defensively, with Mario Williams out for the season, the Texans continue to pressure the QB, stick on receivers and make every opposing gain a tall task. Johnathan Joseph has been worth every penny and then some, Jason Allen has proven to be a solid alternative to Kareem Jackson, and Glover Quinn has seamlessly transitioned from CB to safety. Before his injury, Danieal Manning was also playing great ball, but the Texans lucked out with Quentin Demps, who seems to be a bargain bin gem.

All of this was made possible by Wade Phillips, who has managed to implement an entirely new defensive scheme in the time its taken Chad Ochocinco to simply grasp his lone role in the Patriots' very-much established offense. Players buy into it and walk onto the field every Sunday legitimately feeling like they should win.

LIKE EVERY OTHER CONTENDER

Being a fan of a young franchise, not to mention the youngest, is a tough task. Your team has no history, no grainy footage of past glory, no Hall of Famers who can stop by and give the team a pep talk about how to play Texans Football. It all has to be created and, of course, it's never fun trying to make history.

As a fan, you know, or should know, that fortunes will change. But not many people thought 2011 would be the year. Gary Kubiak stayed, Wade Phillips came aboard, Kareem Jackson was still considered a starter and the Texans "settled" for Joseph over Nnamdi Asomugha in free agency. Then poetic justice took over – the Titans imploded with the late detonation of their entire coaching staff and the jettison of Vince Young, the Colts lost Peyton Manning for the season, and the Jaguars remained the Jaguars.

Point. Set. Match.

The Texans have handled the pressure of being labeled division champs-by default the way a winning team should – by winning and winning large. At 6-3, they look, smell and act like any other team that's ever been 6-3. Every game is a chance to go 1-0, and every game is a chance to improve.

The blossoming of 2010 2nd round pick Ben Tate beside 2010 rushing champion Arian Foster has been a revelation, as has the continued dominance of Houston's offensive line, which has only two letdown games in the basket – against Oakland and at Baltimore. Defensively, worry ran rampant when LB Mario Williams went down for the season against the Raiders, but Brooks Reed has seen rapid improvement in each game, culminating in his dominant performance on Sunday.

Given the lockout, the massive change in defensive scheme and the injuries, it would be fair to assume that the house will fall down, but it hasn't. The Texans have played, and beaten, mostly teams with losing records or feaux winning records (here's looking at you, Tennessee), with their landmark win coming against Pittsburgh. Two of their three losses have been single-score losses to Oakland and New Orleans, and a tough road loss to Baltimore. Certainly nothing to be ashamed of and absolutely not indicative of "the same old Texans". Now, if they fall flat the rest of the way, that's different, but putting those losses in perspective – they're just that. Losses that happened. Unless you're the '72 Dolphins, '07 Patriots or (possibly) '11 Packers, you're not going undefeated, so losses are to be expected. But the Texans aren't worrying about a game two weeks down the road, or a possible epic divisional showdown, or anything like that. All they're concerned with is going 1-0 this week.

SUPPORTING NUMBERS

2010 Week 9 Total Defense Rank: 30th (376.9)

2011 Week 9 Total Defense Rank: 1st (274.0)

2010 Week 9 Total Yards Surrendered: 3,687

2011 Week 9 Total Yards Surrendered: 2,466

Total Rushing Offense: 155.1 (2nd)

Total Passing Offense: 238.4 (14th)

Total Offense: 393.6 (8th)

Turnover Ratio +7 (6th)

CRY, CRY, CRY

One of the best, non-statistical ways to tell if your team has turned a corner is if opponents run to the media immediately after a loss and complain about "dirty" play and "arrogance". For a team like the Texans, who have been trying to shake their "Soft and Finesse" label for 10 years, small tokens of appreciation should go out to Jaguars DE Jeremy Mincey, DT Terrence Knighton and Titans DT Sen'Derrick Marks, as all three ran to the first microphone they saw to complain about legal cut blocks, arrogance and an alleged attempt by Texans offensive lineman to step on a player's head.

Clearly, gone are the days where players took out their grievances on the field instead of a camera, but this new way of doing things is kind of advantageous if you're trying to gauge how other teams look at your team. It's always good when your team is the bully.